Hobby culture
Varicolored
Trade name Tentative
Also sold as Compost Varicolor
A culture sold as Varicolored. The working identification is Entomobrya assuta.
Read this first
This variety has not been formally published. Treat the name as informal.
A name used wrongly in the trade is not a synonym. Treat it as a trade label.
What the name stands for
Three different things share one name. A culture is not a species, and a species is not the animals in your tub. Keeping them apart is how this site avoids repeating the trade's mistakes.
-
The culture
A lineage kept in tubs and passed between keepers under one name. The name comes from the trade.
- Name type
- Trade name
- Collected from
- Illinois, United States, collected from compost
-
The species it matches
The working identification, and how it was reached.
Entomobrya assuta- Name form
- Exact name The name has been matched against the published description.
- How sure
- Tentative A best guess that needs checking.
-
The animals checked
A specimen was examined.
- Basis
- Body form, checked by an expert
- Review
- Reviewed by a curator
Care advice follows the working identification. Check it against what you see.
What would settle it
-
Will the Varicolored culture be published as a form of *Entomobrya assuta* or as something else?
Taxonomy Needs a specialist
Why it matters. The label var. nov. marks an unpublished idea, not a name. Until it is published or dropped, the culture stays an Entomobrya assuta working identification.
What would help. A DNA barcode of the culture compared with wild Entomobrya assuta from Illinois, and a specialist note on whether the patternless form is a variety, a new species or a colour variant.